The role of interactive distance technologies in higher education: a Scottish case study

This paper seeks to assess the educational advantages and disadvantages of the use of interactive, live teacher distance learning technologies in higher education. It arises from the authors' experience of using audio conferencing to teach an introductory course in the social sciences to pre-undergraduate access students throughout the Scottish Highlands and Islands. The paper describes Aberdeen University's distance access programme. The positive features of the programme are that it has made possible the further extension of higher education opportunities to students in remote geographical areas, and that the interactive live audio conferencing tutorials have provided the type of support to students which is missing from traditional correspondence courses. The paper also attempts to determine the attitudes of students to distance learning technologies. It reports the results of a three-year survey conducted among two different groups of students: those who have undertaken the distance learning course, compared with those who have done a similar access course by conventional teaching on campus.